Improvement in earth-closet



PATENT OFFICE.

` CHARLES A. VVAKEFIELD, OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

l i IMPROVEM ENT IN EARTH-CLOSET.

`Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 103,260, dated May 17, 1870.

"To all whom may concern: I 'y Be it known thatI, CHARLEsA. WAKE- `FIELD, of Pttsiield,`in the county ofBerkshire andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful `Improvements in Earth- Olosets, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of :this speeineatiomem in which-` Figure l represents `a side elevation `of an `earth-closet constructed in accordance with my invention,"Fig.` 2, a horizontal section taken as indicated bythe line x ab in Fig. l; Fig. 3, a vertical centra-l section in a plane parallel with the sides of the closet, and Fig. a vsertical section through the line y y in 1g'. v g b i Similar letters offreference indicate corresponding parts. e

My invention is applicable, in many or most of its features, either to in-door or out-door closets, both `those of the pull77 kind and others.

Said invention comprises a slide for conveying a charge of earth from the hopper or reservoir to and over the place where` the excrement is deposited; also, anovel construction of said slide, wherebyit is made to answer as the bottom of the hopper, and to open and dump the earth in a scattering manner over the deposit; likewise, a bar-like construction of the earth-slide, to secure a better retention or absorption ofthe odor.

Furthermore, the invention includes rising andfalling plates over the openings in the sides ofthe hopper, through which the connectionis established `between the earth-slide and the means by which' it is operated.

Also, the invention comprises a scent-slide, to prevent the escape of eftluvia, and, in the case of an ,earth-closet ofthe pulhkind, the fouling of the person or clothes by dust during theperiod of the occupants rising from the seat and closing the lid.

Likewise, the invention includes a supplementarychilds slide or seat to and under the main seat of a closet or privy; and, lastly, the invention comprises automatic means for securing the proper and timely retreat of such supplementary seat and scent-slide, or either, `by the closing of the lid, and certain combinations'of devices with the lid for operating the earth-distributing slide.

Referring to the accompanying` drawing, A represents the hopper or reservoirfor the earth; B, the' main seat of the closet, and C its lid. D is the receptacle for the excrement and earth distributed over the same to effect its deodorization.

Arranged beneath the bottom of the hopper A is a slide, E, made to travel on side ways, c c, in a direction from beneath the hopper to or under the seat B and back again. The rear portion, b, of said slide may be made close and of hat plate form, while the forward portion is composed of bars b', of such height or depth as to play freely through the front opening in the hopper, whereby said bars, which may, if desired, be arranged transversely to, instead of, as here shown, with the motion of the slide, serve to hold upon them a certain quantity of earth after the slide has been drawn out from beneath the hopper to or over the place of dev posit below the seat, and the earth brought forward between `said bars has been dropped on the excrement below by the falling of the ilaps c c.

After the lid C is closed the slide E remains drawn out, to act, by the dust on the bars, as a standing absorbent of efliuvia, if any should remain or rise within the receptacle, after the dust caused by the scattering ofthe earth over the eXcre-ment has settled.

The slide E acts, in lieu thereof, as a scatterer of the earth conveyed by it from the hopper A, said slide having arranged in the front portion of it, below the bars b', a series of metallic flaps, c, pivoted or hinged at their back edges to the slide, so as, when raised, to close them, which is done by their sliding over fixed we ys d cl, being made to underlap one another, so that they form a bottom to such open por tion of the slide, to convey earth from the hopper to the seat B; but as they arrive under the latter said iiaps c are caused to tilt or open simultaneously, and thereby to empty the earth in a scattering manner from off them over the eXcrement, and to create such a dust in the space below the seat as to catch and retain the rising odor. This tilting of the flap cmay be effected by various means; but a very simi ple and efficient arrangement for the purpose is to make them of varying lengths, as shown in Fig. 2, and to form steps e c in the forward portions of the inner edges of their tracks d d, so that on reaching such stepped portions said flaps will be released from support, and suddenly drop or open.

There are advantages in the use of a slide over other devices for distributing the earth from the hopper over the excremen t, and special points of gain when said slideis constructed to operate as described. Thus the earth may be carried ont any desired distance from the hopper, and in making it form the bottom of the hopper all that friction is avoided which must attend the drawing out of a slide from between the hopper and a fixed bottom thereto, consequent upon the jamming or packing of the earth by accumulation and working of the earth sidewise during the motion of the slide. The earth, too, is taken from the hopper in one broad even sheet, and when released is so broken up as to form a cloud of dust, which penetrates all parts of the closet or space below the seed, thereby, and conjointly with the earth remaining on the bars of the slide, taking up all the efliuvia, as well as eifectually covering the excrenient.

In the closet to which my invention is here shown applied, the slide E is operated automatically by the opening and closing of the lid C, the same being` drawn ont to convey and scatter the earth, as described, by the closing of the lidand being worked backward out of the way on openin g the lid but said slide may,

A it' desired, be operated independently of the lid by means of a pull.77

The means here shown for operating the slide by the lid during the opening and closing of the latter, as specilied, consist of levers f f, pivoted at their one end, as at g, to the sides of the hopper, and connected at their opposite ends to the slide E by side pins or pivots h, arranged to project through slots t' in the sides of the hopper, and the leversj'f, being connected with the lid C by rods k. The pins lt are connected with the levers 7" f through slots s, which are of curved form, struck from a center near or outside the front edge of each lever, above the center, as it were, of the pins h. This shape of the slots s obviates that friction in or of the slide E during its entire movement which would otherwise be caused by the curvilinear movement of the levers f j' when operated by the opening or closing ofthe lid C.

To prevent the escape of efliuvia through the slots i in the sides ofthe hopper, said slots are covered by plates Z, hung free to rise and fall, and notched, as at m, to receive the pins h through them, so that said plates cover the slots t' when the lid C is closed, but lift to allow the passage ofthe pins h along said slots, the notches m being suitably shaped to facilitate the lifting of the plates l by the pins It on commencing to raise the lid C, which starts the slide E backward.

F is a close slide, arranged below the seat B. The object of this slide is to prevent the escape of efduvia during the period which elapses between the person rising from t-he seat and the closing of the lid G; also, the same serves, in the case of a pull-closet, to prevent the rising` of dust (produced by the scattering of the earth) upon the person or clothes, should the pull be operated before rising from the seat. Said slide is closed by lifting a pull, n, which, through a cranked rod or lever, al, throws the slide E forward, and it is automatically thrown back or opened by the lid C, when closing being made to depress the pull n.

B is a supplementary and smaller or childs seat, arranged below the main seat B, the same heilig in the form of a slide, capable of being drawn under the main seat by lifting a pull, a2, through a cranked lever, u, and of being thrown back or to one side by the action ofthe lid C in closing on said pull, as in the case of the scent and dust slide F. In making the closing of the lid effect the retreat of the slide F and childs seat B, said devices are only called into requisition when required, and out of the wayat other times.

Vhat is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, with the hopper or reservoir A and seat B, of the earth-slide E, constructed with bars b in front, and arranged to constitute a bottom to said hopper, substantially as specified.

2. The earth-slide E, provided with opening and closing ilaps c c, in combination with the hopper A, essentially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

3. The combination of the steps c c in the tracks d d with the flaps c c of the slide E, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the sliding plates l l with the slots t' in the sides of the hopper and pins h of the slide E, essentially as and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination of the slide E, the levers ff, and rods 7u with the lid C, substantially as described.

6. The arrangement of thc slide B', constructed to form a childs seat beneath the main or permanent seat B, and operated substantially as specified.

7. The slides F or B', operated by rods n a2 and levers nl a3 to their position under the seat B when the lid C is open, and made to retreat by the closing of said lid, essentially as herein shown and described.

GHAS. A. WAKEFIELD.

Titnessesz RoBr. W. ADAM, DANI.. DAY. 

